Alas, poor maple....

They have been replacing our street this summer (which is now this fall). They told us in July at the townhall meeting that certain trees would have to be removed, but that everyone else would be able to keep the tree or trees they had on their treelawn. We were one of the lucky households allowed to keep the stately red maple which shaded the south-facing front of our house. So we were told in July.

Early this morning I was at my computer drinking coffee and trying to wake up when I heard some very suspicious chainsaw sounds. I looked up and right before my eyes they were up on a cherry picker sawing limbs off my tree! I grabbed some clothes and ran downstairs and outside (barefoot -- no time for shoes!) and hollered at them "What are you doing?!!!!!!" They told me that our tree had to come down.

Now any idiot with a little woods sense could see that they were right. In the process of putting in the new cement strip which is our side of the street, they had cut off a bunch of roots. In the process of putting in the neighbor's driveway apron, they had cut off a few more. And in the process of preparing the ground for the new sidewalk, they had cut off another bunch. "That tree's gonna fall over," the foreman said. Still I made them stop work and called the city parks department; there was no answer so I left a message, came back out and told them I couldn't reach anyone. They radio'd the ranger in charge to come out and talk to me. They also told me there was some rot on the street side of the tree and a weak fork that meant it would split sooner or later. Resigned and with a better attitude now that I knew they weren't killing a healthy tree, I told them yes, you can go ahead and keep working. We don't want to hold up the guys with the cement who are just two houses away. We would like to be able to use our driveway by the end of the week. But someone should have given us a little advance notice that we were going to lose our tree. I was reacting out of emotional shock. All this could have been avoided with a little communication.

The ranger showed up and another guy from the city who remembered me (and I him) from the townhall meeting. Turns out that they only found out (or figured out?) yesterday that they would have to take down the tree. They apologized for not telling us. They were unhappy that it had to come down, too. We will get another tree, another red maple (all the replacement trees for our street will be red maple. Ho hum. Who decides these things? I want an oak!) Of course, it will be a few years before it's tall enough to do much good shading a two-story house (three if you count the attic). We can only hope that next summer is as mild as this summer was, and start saving for an exhaust fan for the attic.

For once I was glad not to be working. Coming home after the fact and finding the tree just gone would have been -- well, I'm real glad it didn't happen.

Curiously enough, after all that about how the tree would "fall over," etc., etc., when they went to remove the stump they had a very difficult time. They finally gave up and moved on so that the cement workers could do their thing. We returned in mid-afternoon from a trip to the grocery store to find it finally gone.

SpaceShipOne -- Go Team!

I hope I am one of many, many whose commentary today begins with kudos to Scaled Composites for the successful flight of SpaceShipOne this morning. Many of us are thinking, well, it's about time! My best wishes to the SpaceShipOne team and to all the contestants for the Ansari X Prize, for continued success and safety in all their endeavors.

For those interested, the SpaceShipOne home page is here. Not only does it work, it is a beautiful ship. Go look at the pretty pictures! There is news coverage of an earlier flight here and today's flight here. Follow the links to see the video of today's flight and to see a gallery of other competitors for the X Prize. Enjoy!

Countdown

Just eight days until my trip to Ann Arbor. I am very excited! I spoke with one of my old employers at the U of Michigan, and have arranged to visit the department (actually a part of the museum) one morning. That will be wonderful. So many people I have not seen in years. Such happy memories. I am counting the days.

Tomorrow morning I have a job interview. I am hoping it will go well, but am not sure how soon I will be able to give them an answer if I get an offer. I would like to see how another prospect pans out, and will likely not know that until I return from Ann Arbor. So it is a busy, uncertain time.

Gorilla theater and the next generation: It's all happenin' at the zoo!

There are a few advantages to being unemployed. Mind you, they are only advantages if you already have some money, or have already paid for something you can use later. We had already paid for a membership at the Cleveland Zoo, so we went to the zoo in the middle of the day on a Monday. It was pretty quiet -- some parents with toddlers, but no huge crowds. The gorillas were in rare form and put on quite a show. I got the uncanny feeling that they had rehearsed -- especially when the three of them performed the same maneuver, involving climbing, running, jumping, and classic gorilla chest thumping, all in a specific formation and in a specific location in one corner of the enclosure -- twice in the space of ten minutes. In between they staged a simpler but more dramatic display in the center of the enclosure, the one in the middle striking an absolute pose after thumping his chest, while his buddies, one to either side, looked on admiringly. One or two onlookers actually applauded following the "performance." Did they have the same feeling I had? I can just hear the gorillas plotting behind the scenes:

Gorilla 1: "What'll we do today, mates?"
Gorilla 2: "Oh, I dunno. Lie around in the sun and listen to the silly humans?"
Gorilla 3: "I know, let's do something really different! Let's put on a show!"
Gorilla 2: "Oh, capital idea! I've got this great chest-thumping routine."
Gorilla 3: "Right. And I do this great run and leap near the back corner of the enclosure, on those big rocks."
Gorilla 1: "Great! But you know humans, they get bored easily. Let's give it a plot, something that'll grab their attention."
Gorilla 2: "I know, him & me will chase you all around the yard. We'll do the rock jumping and chest thumping by the door, then head west and stage a tableau by the fence, then more jumping and thumping...."
Gorilla 1: "And then I'll do my big 'poo' routine right near the observation window. That'll put 'em in stitches!" [and he did, too....]
Gorilla 3: "And for the finale, I'll strike a pose right in the middle of the yard, with some chest thumping for good measure..."
Gorilla 2: "Oh, no you don't, the chest thumping is my bit!"
[For a brief moment Gorillas 2 & 3 have a standoff; then Gorilla 1 breaks the tie]
Gorilla 1: "Knock it off, you two. I'm the alpha male, and I can out-thump the both of you. I'll do it."
Gorillas 2 & 3 (sotto voce, abashed): "Right, right, of course...."
Gorilla 1 (to smooth things over): "And for an encore, we'll do the run-jump and chest thump back by the door again."
[The three hi-five it and get ready to hit the boards.]

I wouldn't be surprised to find out it was something like that.

There were several primate babies out and about today. We also saw quite a bit of information on zoo babies as well as animal health. Since we had missed going yesterday for the first day of viewing of the new veterinary facility, we went today (members only previews were scheduled for yesterday, today, and tomorrow; opening day for the general public is September 30). The facility is not quite finished (why is this not surprising?) but they had the members previews as scheduled. There was a very nice exhibit area with some video presentations on zoo veterinary care, which you could avoid watching if you're very squeamish (I didn't see anything too gruesome), and some nice static and interactive displays. There was one video on animal enrichment which was mildly entertaining, and a very nice one on animal babies, showing recent arrivals as well as pointing out some interesting facts about various species' offspring and parenting behavior. We were delighted to see footage of the baby warthog which we had seen playing with its parents on a previous visit.

Happy Birthday, George Gershwin

My partner has been going through his classical CD collection, in alphabetical order; I just read his blog so I know he is in the "V"'s and has been at it since last November. If I did a similar project, it would not take me nearly as long, and I would be spending a large portion of the time in the "G"'s. This is because I am a Gershwin fanatic and I have a huge collection. Of course, lots of Gershwin wouldn't really count as "classical" music, I suppose. He wrote hundreds of show tunes; by far the bulk of his output was popular songs. His "serious" works include a concerto for piano and orchestra, two rhapsodies, a set of piano preludes, variations on a theme ("I Got Rhythm," his own favorite of all of his tunes), and an opera. He was 38 when he died in 1937. He was born on September 26, 1898, so happy birthday, George!

In a way it is nice having a 20th-century composer for my favorite. This is because he flourished during the sound era, so there are a number of recordings of him playing piano, a few of him conducting his own works, and even a handful of radio broadcasts which he hosted. There are also films for which he wrote the score, and films which made use of his music posthumously (the classic is Gene Kelly's An American in Paris; Woody Allen also used Gershwin music for Manhattan).

In his songwriting, George was ably assisted by his brother Ira, who wrote lyrics for the vast majority of Gershwin tunes. Ira of course continued his career as a lyricist after his brother's death, and was still active into the latter part of the last century. I remember being ecstatic to read a newspaper article entitled "Ira Gershwin is Alive and Well and Living in Beverly Hills" when I was in high school (ca. 1971). I saved the article; it's in a box somewhere. I badly wanted to write Ira a fan letter, but never did (probably just as well; I write terrible fan letters).

I am off now to browse the web and see if there is any Gershwin music online that I don't have in my collection. I don't expect I'll find anything, but I'll listen to something by George, just to celebrate.

Friends are good

I have felt unwell all day. Woke up with a headache and it has persisted despite various medications. Now I'm trying to write this. Just got a call from a good friend whom I will be seeing in two weeks -- yay! Haven't seen her in several years. Friends are good. I was reflecting as we talked that it is good to know that friends are just there, even if you don't talk for months or years. It's just comforting to know that you have a friend in Ann Arbor, or Pennsylvania, or Alberta. But it's also good to make actual contact from time to time. It reinforces the friendship, the feeling of comfort, and helps it last a little longer. Plus you never know when you might lose someone, so it's good to be in contact while you're both still breathing. The older you (and your friends) get, the more prone you become to thinking this way.

Well, anyway, friends are good. Enjoy them while you have them.

I have got to stop doing this at the last minute....

Today I worked on graphics for my album, which I plan to actually finish and get out this year (assuming I can afford it, an iffy proposition at present). I will be sure and let you know here when it is done. I have been working on the darned thing for twelve years; about time it got finished! I have been joking that my first album will be a retrospective....

Quietly busy day....

The excitement is building. Less than two weeks until my road trip to Ann Arbor. I can hardly wait!

Otherwise, all is quiet, as usual....

Oooops

How embarrassing. I missed a day! Well, that's how it goes sometimes. Nothing really exciting happened yesterday, anyway, I guess, so why waste bandwidth?

Today was also pretty quiet. I am job hunting, so most of the day was spent pounding the resumes into shape. Yes, that is plural. There are several directions I could go, so having multiple resumes makes sense. Today I got two applications out; I'm working on a third. It's been a good week for finding job possibilities. Only time will tell if any of those possibilities turn into job offers.

Last year at this time I was also job hunting. Funny how that works. I've had two jobs since then. Even funnier how that works. You see, for some of us the problem is not finding a job, it's finding a job that works out. It has to work out for both the employee and the employer. In some ways it's even more difficult than finding a mate. More difficult, and more necessary. Funny how that works, too.

Now, that was cool! I just heard a ship on the lake, sounding its horn. I really like living this close to one of the Great Lakes. For the geographically challenged, or just those who haven't bothered to read my profile yet and don't know where I am, I'm right on Lake Erie. Lakewood is the first suburb west of Cleveland, and right on the lake shore. If I were in better shape, I could walk to the lake. It would probably take about 20 or 25 minutes to walk up to the park, which is a few blocks west of here. If I could just walk straight to the lake (in other words, if there were no houses and private property in the way), I'm told it would probably take about five minutes. Given my normal speed of operation, I'd add about five minutes to each of those estimates. ;-)

Long Tired Day

Some days you're just not up to writing; today was one of them. On the other hand, I did get a little artwork done on the computer, and came up with a new motto/signature which will be a handy thing to have, I'm sure. It is "Don't forget to stop and taste the flowers." Interesting things can come of discussing one's favorite foods. Don't worry, Mom, your macaroni and cheese is still (and always will be) on top, but I also like dandelion buds sauteed in butter, rose petals, and violet jam. Broccoli, too.

Fragility

I lost a friend today. Well, actually, I lost him about a month ago, but just found out today. Iain O'Cain, one of my old friends from Arbornet, the bbs in Ann Arbor in which I used to be quite active, committed suicide last month. I hadn't seen him in over six years. He and his wife had moved to Alberta shortly before I moved to Cleveland. I had not tried to get in touch; now I wish I had.

A funny thing, just a few days ago I was going through some papers and I ran across the little scrap that had the only contact information for them: a login ID and password for the small bbs they were running at the time they left. I was welcome to join; I just never did. More synchronicity: one of my co-workers at the job I just left was named Iain. It's a not-too-common spelling of a not-too-common name, at least in this country. So of course I had thought of my old friend more than usual this summer.

Still more synchronicity: Iain was diagnosed with clinical depression while we were still in touch. I knew he was on medication for it, but I had no idea how severe it was; as I understand it the depression was what finally drove him to take his own life. I have been struggling with depression for years also; fortunately mine seems to be in remission. But I was in a place once upon a time when I could have gone there. What saved me? Two other friends who had gone there before, and friends and especially family who would have suffered terribly and needlessly if I had.

What a fragile thing is life and the strength to cling to it. What a wonderfully strong thing is love and its power to uphold life. I say "I love you" alot compared to some folks, and I mean it every time I say it. I think we cannot say it too often. It might save a life.

OK, ya gotta see this movie!

Two unemployed people have to pick and choose their entertainment, but some things you just can't pass up. We went to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which was every bit as cool as I was expecting. It's period, it's 1930's fantasy s.f., it's Adventure with a capital "A," it's FUN!!!!! It's got flying aces, it's got world-threatening menaces, it's got mad science, it's got humor, it's got cliff-hangers, it's got robots, it's got giant airships, it's got -- sorry, I'm not gonna give it all away; you'll have to go see it to see what else it's got!

One thing I especially liked about this movie was the color: an almost sepia, period look -- like old hand-tinted photographs. (Don't worry, this will be way overused before next year, if it hasn't been already, just like those dark, wet-pavement shots they've been using in every sci-fi and comix movie the last several years to make things look gritty and spooky). That look and various other details just breathed 1930's pulp ambiance. Another thing I liked -- it was clean as a whistle. I expect the more or less comic-book style violence earned it the PG rating; heck, I'd take the kids if I had any.

If you want a bold, high-spirited romp that will whiten your knuckles satisfactorily, that brings you solidly into its world without being too well-grounded in reality, and that's got all the right stuff to make it a good adventure story, this is the movie to see!

Now I'm at home!

I just moved the weblog from its temporary location to my very own website. After two years (more, actually) of saying "Coming Soon!" my home page now says "It's here!" So far this is the only thing that's here, but I am proud of finally accomplishing this much. Often the first step is truly the hardest to take.

I hope to see friends and family joining me here soon, and some interesting posts and comments as a result.

The Cleveland Zoo

Recently my partner and I joined the Cleveland Zoo. We have been members of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for a few years; this year we decided to branch out. The zoo has a new veterinary facility opening this fall, with a preview period for members only, starting on September 26. So that is how I plan to celebrate George's birthday, weather permitting. No, there is no particular logic to this choice; it is merely an accident of timing. But of course I will also listen to a Gershwin tune, my usual small and more relevant tribute.

Belonging to a zoo is actually a pretty cool thing. You get in for free, which is nice when finances are tight. Of course, you paid for the membership, so the more you go the more economical it becomes. Nice incentive to get out of the house and get some fresh air and exercise.

Another nice thing is that your dollars support important research and conservation efforts. Many of our most endangered species are surviving primarily in zoos; others whose survival is less tenuous still benefit from having something of a "buffer zone" in zoo populations. Zoos work collectively to ensure species health by careful breeding programs to maintain and improve genetic diversity in small populations. Related research develops successful breeding methods for species which have a difficult time mating and raising healthy offspring in captivity.

Zoos also work very hard these days to make the animals' lives more interesting and enjoyable. "Enrichment" includes play activities, training, toys, and food presentation which more closely emulates the animals' natural feeding experience. I am sorry we missed seeing the lions stalking and bringing down the cardboard "zebra" the last time we were there. It was thoroughly demolished by the time we arrived, and they were basking in the afterglow amid striped tubes and shreds of paper.

Somethin' tells me it's all happenin' at the zoo....

Welcome to Dream Haven!

Welcome one and all. I hope you have dreams to share! Big or small, realistic or not, all dreams are welcome here. It is a haven, after all.

Dreams can grow from many sources, including random discussion, so let us discuss randomly as well. Today's random thought: George Gershwin's birthday is September 26. What will you do to celebrate? You've got eleven days to come up with something.